LOVELY ART DOLLS!

I was sifting through some of my accumulated mags the other day, The Somerset digital Studio caught my eye and really was a feast for my art spirit. All these creative folks crankin' out such amazing creations using everything from collage, paint, photoshop - EVERYTHING. It made me long to free my process up a bit! I also found out they have an ART DOLL QUARTERLY issue coming out this spring. These doll creations are amazing! HERE's THE LINKL Art Doll Quarterly
Art Doll Quarterly shares dolls and sculptural figures made from fabric, clay, wire, paper, and more.

Spring Bling Treasures Sale this Sunday!

My dear friend Renee Dominique is hosting another amazing boutique fundraiser at The Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock! Did ya know that I designed the invitation for the event? Yep, I do the graphic design stuff too! I love creating things for non-profit orgs that do such good for the community!

I'll have a table (along with my mom & fellow artist Linda Johnstone Allen). I'll be selling books, prints, and paintings and she'll be showcasing a bunch of organic and gorgeous ceramic pieces! Tell your friends! Come check this event out!

 here's the scoop:
SPRING BLING TREASURES SALE Sunday March 21, 2010 11am-3pm

FREE ADMISSION!   $5 suggest donation receives a FREE raffle ticket

Raffle tickets $5/each or 3 for $10

Free parking at Bank of America

A trunk show of local artists will open their treasure boxes to share their unique creations- one day only. Welcome Spring and join us for an afternoon of shopping!
See Jewelry, Accessories, Ceramics, and other fine wares available for purchase directly from the artists. 10% of all sales benefit the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, a non-profit arts programming organization dedicated to providing innovative and multicultural arts programming to the communities of Northeast Los Angeles.

New Work - triptychs!

Just working on some new paintings this March for some upcoming shows in Santa Fe in May, and Culver City in September. This one will be a triptych (3-panels attached with hinges). One of my favorite time periods of art history was the emergence of the use of Triptychs in religious art during the end of the Middle Ages and onward into the Byzantine era. Something about the narrative and exquisite detail - just blows my mind! My art making this year is going to focus on letting go, experimentation and creating pieces that just flow and feel good. I'll keep you posted with my progress. And if you want a sneak peek, stop by my open studio in April (more info to come).

Trappings - Art Jam photo 8

Trappings - Art Jam photo 8
Originally uploaded by cjmetzgerco

Just uploaded photos of our "art jam" collaboration piece! We've been working on it for about a month now ( we being artists - Jeni Yang, Su Moon, Miss Mindy (pictured), Dee Chavez, Celene and myself (CJ Metzger). It's coming along nicely, and we are adding the last details this week - then it's off to auction!

The piece will be sold through an auction through WWA gallery - in Culver City and the proceeds will Benefit the Lunch Bunch Charity of Los Angeles (amazing group feeding the areas homeless).

See more photos on Flickr!

Things to Come - New Work!

Last night I sat in bed and just sketched in my notebook. Funny, some of my best drawings have been scribbled on lined paper! SOmething about the fancy journals with their nice paper that intimidates me... the lined paper is a comfort - takes me back to the early days of art making. Scribbling into school notebooks during and in between classes, embellishing every square inch of a text books brown paper cover. Talk about freedom with creativity. This year I'm making a pact with myself to experiment more, judge myself less, and just be free with my creativity and the whole process. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out!

Trappings Show - Opening Reception Jan 15th!

The Trapping Show reception at the WWA gallery was a fantastic success! Art sold, and the venue was packed to the brim with art-goers and friends! The show came together lovely, and was hung beautifully by Rob Faucette & the WWA gallery crew. I urge you to swing on by to see the show, being in the heart of Culver City - there are a bunch of great places to nab a bite to eat, then stop in for a bit o' art viewing.

Artists Jeni Yang, Celene, me (CJ Metzger), Miss Mindy, Su Moon, and Dee Chavez were all on hand to do a bit of "on-site" painting for  a good cause! Proceeds from the auction of our collaborative piece will benefit the Lunch Bunch, a super local organization that helps feed Los Angeles Area Homeless. 

check back for photos of this amazing collaborative piece - as it progresses during the month of January!

Forest Inspiration - Yosemite National Park

Ahhh....Sometimes you just need to be outdoors! And Yosemite is by far the best place to get that "out of doors" awe-struck- humbling experience that just puts everything in perspective. It  is so magical and such a special place to me and my family. I've been trekking there since I was just a wee little babe. In fact, my mom toted me in a baby carrier to Vernal falls when I was around 9 months old!
My family and I spent the New Years Holiday up there and braved the winter (mild, but we did get some snow!). Above are a few pic's i snapped from my iPhone. You just can't take a bad photo of that place.
I was hoping to paint a little, and did some sketching, but moreover - I just needed to refresh my mind and let nature make it's visual imprint on me. It was nice to just be little ol' me, quiet, breathing cool air, kicking stones, eating snow. I'll get to painting as soon as I get back home.

Starting the Year off with - Trappings - a show at WWA Gallery

This show has been curated by myself and my sister, Miss Mindy.

It's been a while since i've assembled a show, but it's been a wonderful

experience - getting to combine the creative forces of these great women

artists! Celene, Miss Mindy, Katie Rice, Dee Chavez, CJ Metzger (me - he he),

Su Moon, Jeni Yang and Lesley Reppeteaux.

Reception is January 15th, 7-10pm with a LIVE PAINTING happening that evening

with proceeds benefiting the  Lunch Bunch!

I'll be posting more photos and artwork as the week progresses!

xoxoxo and a Happy New Year!

Small Works Show this Weekend @ Gallery 9

Hi friends & folks! There sure is a lot going on this holiday season! I'm in tons of local boutiques and shows including this one at Gallery 9 in Culver City. The space is great, and I've got some small new portrait pieces and a few mounted giclée's that are super affordable and collectible!

Reception is this Saturday night 6:30-10:0pm, and they are having a Holiday Party on the 12th too.
Address is: 6101 Washington Blvd, Culver City 90232.

The gallery is part of a cool online networking website for artists called www.thewhole9.com. Check it out and sign up to get connected to other artsy folks around town.!

Animal Instinct - Show Nov. 7th! Buy art and proceeds go to The Humane Society of the US.

My new friend Tracey Taylor is curating this wonderful group show benefiting the Humane Society of The US. Please check it out! I'm submitting a piece titled "The Wish". It's a Chickadee holding a dandelion and is acrylic on wood (I'll post the image soon! Just need to take a photo of it!). 80% of the sales of all items and artwork for this show will benefit the Humane Society. The opening is next Saturday Nov. 7th. Hope you can make it to support this organization and the super great gallery TheLab!

Muertos con Leche

So here's a sneak peek at my "Playing Dead - in the forest" piece for the show at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park! The opening is this Saturday night. Nice to be exhibiting in my neck o' the woods again! Here are the details about the show

Celebration Reception: Saturday, October 10, 2009 from 7-10 pm.

MUERTOS CON LECHE ~
Light Hearted and Satirical

Please feel free to dress in your favorite DOD attire
The satire that has sprung from Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada's work can be seen in the Dia de Muertos folk art of today. Please join us in our 2009 Dia de los Muertos celebration exhibition featuring the following contemporary artists:

Joe Bravo
Lalo Alcaraz
Gomez Bueno
Pola Lopez
Douglas Alvarez
Stuart Rapeport
Kay Brown
Ronald J. Llanos
Isabel Martinez
Mavis Leahy
Mario Torero
CJ Metzger
Ms. Mindy
Heather Hoggan
Patricia Krebs
Jennifer Gutierrez Morgan
Jose Orozco
Kelly Thompson
Olivia Sanchez-Brown
Dan Van Clapp
Ricardo Duffy

Avenue 50 Studio is proud to present a fun and satirical exhibition for this year’s Dia de Los Muertos. Once a year during harvest time, we pay homage to Death. At harvest, while crops die, they give back life. This is the spirit of Dia de Los Muertos ~ through death there is life.

Dia de Los Muertos is a pagan celebration to the Dead. We offer up candies and flowers and images to keep the Dead happy. This Dia de Los Muertos we’ve asked our artists to feed Death’s belly with laughter. Through laughter, he will pardon and overlook our trespasses, and open a window to the underworld where we can communicate with our loved ones. Let us feed the demon Death with sweet life. And through those spoonfuls, keep the living alive. Let us laugh and celebrate life. This Dia de Los Muertos, we hope to keep you entertained in honor and celebration of the duality of life.

Painting on Everything!

New piece to share! Here's a girl portrait titled "Tattooed Matilda" that's part of my series painted on an old collection of Encyclopedia's that belonged to by grandfather artist Ralph Johnstone. The books are from the 1930's and lovely! But with such obsolete information! So, just loving the color and texture of the books I've decided to re-purpose them - turning them into paintings. As for now I'm just painting the covers, but as time progresses, I'll start adorning the insides as well.

This one is for sale in my Etsy store!

Paintings Come and Go...

Someone asked me the other day if I found it hard to part with my paintings still. Yes - and - No. For me a piece is never truly finished until it finds the right person. Whether it be someone stumbling into a gallery, one of my open studios, a friend that catches it in the making, or my mom not letting it leave the studio - i always feel that the circle of creation has been completed once it finds it's rightful owner. I do feel a bit rushed in with the art-making process these days. And, I do like to have my fresh and new pieces around me for a while. It's nice to just make friends with them for a few days! This is one of those pieces that comes out of my hands, gets framed, and is off to the gallery - then to a client faster than I can even document it! All I have is a snapshot of the piece... I'm going to have to track this baby down.

Oh, and if you have any of my work in your home, can you send me a picture of it hanging in place? I'm putting together a collection of photos of my art in clients places. You can email them to me at cjmetzger@cjmetzger.com. thanks!

A little bit of Golden Sunshine

This piece lifts my spirits. It's a warmer color palate for me - a departure from the my obsession with blues and greens - those deep forest colors i've been using for quite a while. I added gold leaf to embellish her hair. I have a feeling I'll be using alot more of gold leaf. Something about how it catches the light, pops off the surface, makes things look so precious. I can't help but think of Klimt when I layer on that lovely stuff. Sunshine is the color of honey, softer and sweeter, looking to the future with a hopeful expression.

This piece is at the Wonderful World Art Gallery in Culver City, and measures 12"x12". I'll have more work on display there over the next few months so I'll keep you posted.

Also, I'm working hard to make my prints available. I have HUNDREDS of paintings that I've painted (and sold!). Luckily I've been pretty diligent in archiving these pieces! I'm starting to post them on my etsy shoppe. Right now theres only a few pieces, including new original work and prints (including a print of this piece) for only $20. They are web exclusive! Spread the word!

Many of you already have prints of mine, and I'm so grateful and appreciative of your support in my work! So just to say thanks - Send me an email if you have a print of mine - and I'll send you a discount code for 20% off anything in the shop - along with a FREE mini print. It's my way of saying THANKS!

Making Tiny THings

My oh my! What an assembly line! I've got a bunch of mounted prints at a lovely gallery I'm doing business with over in Culver City. It's call the Whole 9 - heard of it? If not, it's very cool I tell you and you should stop by!
here's the scoop:

Life is Just a Fantasy
Group Show at The Whole 9 Gallery
when: June 20th, 6:30-10pm
Join us for some wine and music!
where:6101 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, 90232
310-836-4601


They also have a networking site for artists that is very cool. It's a bit hard to keep up with all that twitters, facing facebook, but The Whole 9 is a very cool community of creative types. They even have job postings. Did someone say -- jobs?! Yipee!

Check out the special projects section of website for more mini art pieces. I'll have a link up to an Esty store very soon too!

Character and Illustrations - Galore!

Check out my SlideShare Presentation:

Cjm Portfolio I

View more Microsoft Word documents from cjmetzger.

POP! Goes Santa Fe!

The Show at Pop Gallery, Santa Fe went great! I decided to road-trip it this time. I headed out with my folks and 6 year old on a 5 day trek through the thundery landscape of Northern Arizona, all the way to New Mexico and to beautiful Santa Fe! Have you ever been? It's my second time, and it only gets lovelier. I'm formatting photos of our jaunt, check back in a few days for some excellent photos of The Historic Wig-wam Hotel (Holbrook, AZ), The Grandest Canyon you'll ever see, and other photographic moments from our trip on Route 66!
And a note about the "Pop Suger Coated Femme Show, 2009:
Pop Gallery is owned and operated by the wonderful Sharla and Michael McDowell. It's great space filled with fabulous art! This past show had artwork Kathie Olivas, Artist Sisters CJ Metzger & Miss Mindy, Stephanie Roberts, Carrie Ann Baade, Marie Sena, Valery Milovic and Julie West Take a peek Pop Galleries current, past and upcoming exhibitions!

Black Maria Show this Weekend (more sneak peeks)

Here are another few photos of the new pieces at the Black Maria Gallery in Atwater. They are acrylic and mixed media on wood, and framed up in reclaimed gold carved frames that I cut and assembled myself. These two pieces are "St. of Despair and Longing" and "St. Of Wounded Hearts".
Check them out in person, or online! See the post below for all the details. The reception is this Saturday May 9th, 7-10pm.

These are Strange Times My Dear....

Here is a sneak peek at a few of my new pieces for my upcoming show at the Black Maria Gallery.
"St. Lucy Saw it Coming" and "When in Love..." are acrylic and mixed media on wood and will be framed in these fabulously ornate guilded wooden frames that have been gifts to me from friends, clients, etc. Please come and see them in person!

Bit's of info from the Press Release:

These Are Strange Times My Dear
9 May – 6 June, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday 9th May, 7:00 – 10:30pm
Black Maria Gallery: 3137 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90039
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12pm until 6pm (or by appointment)


Los Angeles – Black Maria Gallery is pleased to announce "These Are Strange Times My Dear"; a group show featuring the latest works from Catia Chien, CJ Metzger and Dany Paragouteva. This show is a mystical interpretation of our current turbulent times. The artists are exploring our journey through the current storm of political and economic instability, searching for something positive to grasp onto. In a time of such negativity, this exhibition strives to expose some silver linings.

Art in the NY Times!

There was a full color article in the NY Times about poor dear Eagle Rock, and how it's being hit by the recession... It's a wee bit o' a bummer article, citing how small artsy bohemian towns booming during the past decade are now facing uncertain demise...But the irony is that my paintings are in the background of the photo - and I've been getting a lot of phone calls about the artwork! Check out the article if you missed it here.
I’m excited to my work in the paper, sad it had to be in association with “ When the Next Wave Wipes Out”article ... Oh hell, lately the news is all about fear. Let’s not buy into it! We can rise above all this doom and gloom!